Gil, that snake had really nice colors and he was a fatty. Would have made a really nice belt. Ive seen a variety of reactions from cottonmouths. Were the ones that appeared aggressive actually in a defensive mode and trying to intimidate? I dont know. Hopefully Jackson can get out soon. It wont be more than a couple of times this year because Im hunting very thick cover. I dont worry as much on the big open mud flats when the water is lower.

Stan, birds flushed to shots taken varies greatly. There have been days when I hunted large mud flats almost completely barren when I might flush 250 or more before getting enough birds to flush in range. This year is the exact opposite and the last few times I have flushed around a dozen birds. Seeing fewer birds caused me to take chances and break rules last Friday. Twice I shot two birds. My first rule is to never shoot a second bird (unless the first one falls in wide open water). My second rule is to never take my eyes off the exact mark of a fallen bird when retrieving it. I cant break rule number two without also breaking rule number one. Neither of those two incidents were true doubles but just pairs where the second bird flushed at the shot of the first. From where I shot the angles between the first and second were approximately 60 and 90 degrees. My punishment was spending at least forty-five minutes looking for three of the birds with some of that time on my hands and knees in marsh thick marsh grass waist high or taller.

CZ, I wish I could shoot that well. Just because you might have heard me say it on the internet doesnt make it so. Heck, I would be happy if I just had two guns that fit the same. I also only shoot birds on the flush as a rule. I dont shoot at passing birds because I feel that it is one of the things that will run heavily pressured birds off. I would rather just let them settle back in even if it is a quarter or a half mile away. The only time I will kill an overhead bird is if I have someone else with me and I can tell them to watch this before I shoot it.

George, I was a surveyor for twenty years. Once while working my instrument man came over to me with a small pygmy rattlesnake in the palm of his hand. He had two small streams of blood running down one of his fingers. There was no burning sensation so after making a couple of phone calls we went to a walk-in clinic. They took some blood which tested fine. I believe they were checking his white blood cell count but I could be mistaken. I think he also got a tetanus shot and then we went back to work.

VictoryXC, that is a nice looking gun, more ornate than my plain 20 gauge. I like a light gun too and that is one of the reasons I got mine.